Lightning Strikes in Rangers' Loss
Chris Gratton broke out of a season-long scoring slump with two goals and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning snapped a seven-game losing streak by holding on for a 5–3 victory over the Rangers last night.
The Lightning had gone 0–5–2 following a win over Toronto on December 20 that ended a 1–4–1 skid. Tampa Bay is last in the Eastern Conference with 37 points, and only Los Angeles has fewer in the NHL.
Defenseman Doug Janik and Vaclav Prospal also scored for the Lightning, who led 4–1 late in the second period before they nearly gave it away with a series of penalties.
Martin St. Louis added an empty-net goal with 2.4 seconds left. The Rangers showed life after returning home from an 0–2–1 trip to western Canada, but couldn't finish the rally. Jaromir Jagr gave them a 1–0 lead in the first period, and Scott Gomez and Michal Rozsival scored powerplay goals to get them closer.
The Lightning weren't called for any penalties until Jason Ward was sent off for slashing with 2:47 left in the second.
The Rangers took advantage just over a minute later when Rozsival faked a shot, but found Gomez instead for an easy tip-in to make it 4–2 at 18:24.
New York's comeback continued in the third when Craig Mac-Donald was given a four-minute penalty for high-sticking defenseman Fedor Tyutin. Rozsival scored his career-high 11th goal 43 seconds into the power play, cutting the deficit to 4–3.
